Setting
International · 2020
Trends in Food Science & Technology · 2020
Full-paper technical review
Postharvest precooling of fruit and vegetables: A review
This review describes precooling as a critical early cold-chain step because removing field heat quickly affects temperature uniformity, physiology and commercial quality. It also highlights the role of package and bin design in cooling performance. This technical note is based on the complete paper supplied for the research library and separates the published evidence from what can reasonably be transferred to Slovenian field practice.
Study at a glance
Method
technical review of postharvest precooling methods
Evidence status
Full paper reviewed
Numbers below describe the published experiment or model; they are not Kumer 1687 production specifications.
What the full paper actually found
The review compares room cooling, forced-air cooling, hydrocooling, vacuum cooling and related precooling approaches. Its key engineering message is that faster heat removal is useful only while product quality, moisture loss, chilling risk, sanitation and energy demand remain acceptable. The paper notes product-specific examples in which hydrocooling can be substantially faster than forced air and explains why increasing forced-air velocity eventually gives diminishing cooling gains while pressure drop and energy use continue to rise. For a fresh-produce chain, the critical variable is therefore the actual product cooling curve and its uniformity, not only the refrigeration-unit setting.
Full PDF reviewed: 2026-09-09
How this review was built
This page is a technical interpretation of the complete PDF supplied to the Kumer 1687 research library. The abstract was checked against the methods, tables or figures, results and conclusion. Study-specific numbers are kept in their experimental context, and independent research is kept separate from Kumer-specific practice.
- Source authors
- Yuan Duan, Guan-Bang Wang, Olaniyi Amos Fawole, Pieter Verboven, Xin-Rong Zhang, Di Wu, Umezuruike Linus Opara, Bart M. Nicolai & Kunsong Chen
- Evidence status
- Full paper reviewed
Transfer to Slovenian production
Moderate transferability: the biological or engineering mechanism and the decision logic are useful for Slovenian production, but the exact dose, threshold, timing, machine setting, temperature or shelf-life value must be calibrated locally.
For Kumer 1687, the defensible use of this evidence is as a hypothesis and measurement framework to test against its own fields, lots and cold-chain records. A published result becomes a production rule only after local validation.
Local validation before adoption
- Define the commercial endpoint before the trial: marketable yield, grade, freshness, shelf life, water/energy use or labour requirement.
- Compare a control and a test treatment on the same cultivar, field or product lot wherever practical.
- Log the variables that can change the outcome: weather, soil water, product temperature, relative humidity, working depth, crop stage and packaging as relevant.
- Measure benefit and cost/risk together: yield, rejects, crop damage, labour, energy, water and quality.
- Repeat the comparison in at least two relevant production windows or conditions before standardising the practice.
Interpretation boundary
The page explains what the independent paper supports and where the evidence may be useful. It does not state that Kumer 1687 uses the same treatment or achieves the same numerical result unless that is documented separately on a Kumer-specific page.
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Expert interpretation
The postharvest lesson is that “cold” is a process, not only a room set-point. Product temperature, time to remove field heat, air or water contact, package ventilation, humidity and the product’s own chilling sensitivity determine whether quality is preserved. Optimisation therefore has to be measured at product and package level.
Why this matters to buyers and partners
For buyers and distribution partners, this supports asking about time–temperature control, packaging airflow and handling speed rather than relying on a nominal cold-room temperature alone.
Limits and transferability
This paper does not prove that Kumer 1687 uses the same treatment, equipment, storage regime or achieves the same numerical result. Local soil, cultivar, weather, maturity, package design and cold-chain conditions can materially change the outcome.
Original article title
Postharvest precooling of fruit and vegetables: A review
Trends in Food Science & Technology · 2020 · DOI 10.1016/j.tifs.2020.04.027
Original source ↗